He was probably married. There are a lot of places that say he was a religious teacher. If he was a Jewish religious teacher, it wouldn't be too far off to say that he may have actually started off as being a Rabbai. To be a Rabbai, especially in those times, you need to be married and most likely have kids.

eh who wouldn't want to marry a Good Guy Greg? The men that I am usually attracted to are empathetic, open minded, critical thinkers, they try to be involved in their community in a positive way, they care about others and try to help....tldr, Jesus was a hippie and a GGG, I like people like that

you're right, there does seem to be a divide in Christianity between people who know what it's really about, and extremists who have used it as an excuse to hate and judge others. The more you tell people that you're a christian, the more people will realize that it isn't all about extremists. I'm an atheist, but definitely a fan of Jesus.

I did not actually mean extremists alone, but I can definitely see how it could be taken that way. I was referencing the idea that Jesus was trying to revolutionize Judaism rather than begin a new religion, therefore he might find it odd that there would even be a massive religion based not only on his teachings but also heavily influenced by culture, other religions, shitty and good people alike, etc. through the centuries. Christianity has transformed in so many ways since Jesus that it would seem at least somewhat if not entirely foreign to him.

I by no means meant to incriminate all Christians as extremists. I agree that it is unfair to call all Christians evil/insane/what have you because it isn't true, but the religion itself has branched and transformed since Jesus' day (I'm not implying that's necessarily a bad thing - it's just fact). I meant no offence.

There are several verses in the bible saying that Jesus's face was marred and people turned their faces away from him when they first saw him, the reason that they followed him for what was inside not his outward appearance.

In Isaiah 53:2, it is written that Jesus was simple looking. Not ugly, not handsome, just simple. After Jesus was crucified and then rose 3 days later, he definitely did have scars (John 20:20). Thomas even touched the scars when he saw Jesus (John 20:24-30). I'm sure Jesus did look rough after being whipped and hung and beaten.

Didn't like Mary or some other person "turn away" when they saw him before or after the crucifixion... but turned away out of sadness... am I recalling that??? Maybe that's what flamekitties is half-way remembering too.

He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

This reads more to me that there was nothing remarkable about him which is how I had always pictured him. Not some Brad Pitt hot stuff but just a regular dude with nothing special about him.

The next verse might support the idea a bit:

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

But I read it as he was not despised/rejected for his looks. He was despised for his views. He challenged those in power and was shunned for it by many people. I don't think it had anything to do with his looks.

I feel like it would be too complicated since he eventually had to die for everyone's sins. He probably rather not put anyone through the pain of loving him only to die...I mean besides his mother who he made sure would be taken care of by his buds.

Um. This is kind of wrong. Jesus was america he like wrote the second amendment and stuff. He had tailgating parties all the time with his brother and best friend Ronald Reagan. Also if he was so poor, where'd he get all the money to build his cool inventions like the oil drilling rig, the AR-15 and truck nuts? Whatever! You probably just saw him tearing around on his sweet quad and got all jealous.

Oh god, you're one of those Christians who goes around claiming other denominations aren't TrueChristiansTM. I was a Catholic... I don't get it. I believed in god all the same... it was just Christianity. I called myself a Christian. I went to Catholic mass. IT'S THE SAME RELIGION!!!

This. Many people blame the Catholic church for making them feel set apart from God's love because of a set of arbitrary rules set down by people instead of the Bible. To me, that (and claiming that the Pope is the voice of God) seems like cult behavior. Does it mean that Catholics are any less faithful? Of course not. But it does have ramifications.

that's why cats have nine lives isn't it? There's a comic I saw about that: Jesus waits at the gates for the cat to decide whether he wants in or out so he just gets impatient and gives the cat 9 lives

YES! And CHRISTIANS follow(the best they can-nobody is perfect) and love Christ, knowing the stories of the scary Old Testament are pre-Christ anyway. I believe that's why he came to teach, and died for our sins. That's all that qualifies a Christian. Not that God is a hateful man in the sky who hates gays or prostitutes for being anymore sinful than the rest us because they aren't.

That's my speech for the day. Sorry. I know this isn't r/atheism but it breaks my heart that Christians are acceptably picked on. If anybody ever made fun of Hindus for anything one of their extremists did, they would be "racist" or "intolerant". I know that's not what you're going for, but you know some people have seen this and thought "Yeah! Dumb old Christians."

As a Christian, I think that a bit of the information in this picture is misleading. Jesus was a pretty cool guy, though. Remember that time he made wine for a party? That was awesome.

---Jesus never spoke English and was not American - AGREE. Why would he speak English during his time on Earth? He spoke the languages of that day (Aramaic, Hebrew, etc). He certainly wasn't American, as we know from the Bible where he was born and where he traveled throughout his life. I always find it humorous when I see a picture of white Jesus. Jesus looked like the other men and women of his day in accordance to genetics, so most likely a shade of brown skin and brown hair.

---Jesus was anti-wealth: Sort of? I'm not sure how the term "anti-wealth" is being used here. Jesus wanted resources to be allocated to those in need. We see that Jesus preached to give to those in need in Matthew 5:42. After Jesus' Resurrection, his followers also continued to be cheerful givers to those in need in Acts 2:44-47. Jesus did preach for people to give money where obligated, such as the government in Mark 12:17. Jesus also used a poor woman in Mark 12:41-44 as an example of what it means to give to others. It comes down to one's attitude and intention. The poor woman demonstrated pure intentions as she gave all that she had therefore making her the most generous giver of all.

---Jesus was never anti-gay: Sort of? While we do not have records of the man Jesus speaking on the issue of homosexuality, we do know what His stance would be. Jesus was part of the Trinity: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit (who came into the hearts of believers after Jesus). Scripture (OT and NT) writes that Jesus was One with God (Matthew 1:23, Isaiah 9:6, Revelation 1:17-18, John 10:30, John 14:9-11, Philippians 2:5-7.) Knowing that Jesus and the Father are One, we know that what God spoke to His people in the Old Testament is also what Jesus would have agreed with. Does that make sense? God = Jesus, therefore God's Words = Jesus' words. Keep reading.

So, was Jesus anti-gay? We read that God/Jesus believes homosexuality is a sin (Lev. 18:22, Lev. 20:13, Rom. 1:26-27, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, 1 Tim. 1:9-10). Jesus/God make it clear that ANYONE who persists in ANY sin stands equally under the condemnation of God's Word. Which is everyone according to the bible, not just those practicing homosexuality. I admit to being a huge sinner.

BUT WAIT! LOVE IS HERE! For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son to die for our sins so that we could be forgiven and have a restored relationship with our Creator. Because of our faith in Jesus, we know that all of our sins are forgiven and we are set free from the consequences (Acts 16:31, John 3:16, the entire book of Romans). We repent of our sin and receive a new life and a fresh start. Do we keep sinning? Unfortunately. But we try not to. God/Jesus is love. God/Jesus loves us. We should love others. Only God can condemn his creation. We are merely called to love people through our actions. Is Jesus anti-gay? I think that sends the wrong message. He's anti-sin. He's pro-faith, love, and mercy.

--- Jesus never mentioned abortion: Agree. He didn't mention it. So why are many Christians against abortion? God has said that killing others is wrong (Exodus 20:13), that God does know the unborn (Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 49:1), that Mary was with Child as soon as she conceived, not just when it was kicking around (Matt. 1:18), and God knows the days of a person before they are born (Psalm 139:15-16). God is loving and forgiving. He probably wouldn't support abortion, but he has given humanity free will to make their own choices. He certainly wouldn't turn anyone away who has had an abortion and wanted a relationship with Him. Love, faith, and mercy, all the way.

You certainly sound like you've done your homework. I think the point of the post was to poke fun of those that use Jesus' name to disparage and even subjugate others. This isn't exactly the sub to get into a heated theological debate, but I guess as long as everybody's respectful it doesn't really matter. Just glad you were respectful with your disagreement.

Thank you for affirming that I was respectful!! Seriously, I took like 45 minutes to write, edit, and rewrite my comment in hopes that it would be respectful. Part of that 45 minutes was re-writing what I wrote because I accidentally refreshed the page and everything I worked on disappeared. haha. I really didn't want to come across sounding rude, but I wanted to correct any falsehood. I probably wouldn't participate in a theological debate anyways. I've found that I do not enjoy debating on Reddit. :)

Thank you for taking the time to post this, sincerely. I'm not a Christian, but I'm glad to have a deeper understanding of the scriptures and beliefs of those that are. It was an informative and interesting read! :)

you're exactly right. The post wasn't meant to be anti-christian. I posted this to comment on the fact sadly, people are using Jesus' name as an excuse to hate on people or to be crappy to their fellow person - without actually having studied his teachings

Personally I'm an atheist, but I'm definitely a fan of Jesus and I try to be a good person like he was.

As for the homosexuality being a sin -- eating shellfish and wearing a fabric blend is mentioned as sinful in those same verses (or in the very next verse). I'm curious -- why do we not consider those sins today, in the same way homosexuality is considered a sin?

FWIW, while not a Christian, I think if people lived by the red text, we'd have a pretty happy world. I am curious as to what people think (especially one as kind-hearted-sounding as you seem to be).

Haha! Man, Numbers 5:15-31 is crazy! I had forgotten about that piece of work.

You're asking about the Laws of the Old Testament. I LOVE when people ask about the laws because without the proper understanding, they make absolutely nooooo sense.

So, God's people, known as the Israelites or Jews, were enslaved by the Egyptians for 400 years. God set them free using Moses as their leader (The Book of Exodus). Once the Israelities were free and wandering toward their land, God gave them a set of laws (primarily found in Exodus and Leviticus). He gave them three sets of laws: Government, Moral, and Ceremonial (Worship).

The ceremonial laws were Israel's regulations for worshiping God. The Ceremonial Laws detailed what God expected of buildings, decorations, sacrifices, and ceremonies. They specified requirements for the Israelites, such as which animal to use for what sin, forbidding certain foods, like shellfish, wearing clothing of mixed fabric, or trimming of the beard. The consequences of sin is death, so after an Israelite sinned, they could sacrifice to restore their relationship with God. Israelites could also sacrifice to praise and thank God or show devotion. There are 5 different types of sacrifices, but basically their sin would be put onto the appropriate animal, or food (such as grain or honey or bread), the animal/food would be killed or burned in some way, and God would forgive them or be honored or whatever the purpose was. Although to us it is a very strange process, God was really after a heart that loves him, not just a person who went through the ceremonial motions (Hosea 6:6). Christians today do not follow these ceremonials laws because we believe that Christ was the last sacrifice. He's known as the "lamb of God" because he died once for the sins of all people. His perfect sacrifice covers our transgressions, so now we get to eat Shellfish from Red Lobster. Woohoo!

The government laws were in place as the Israelites needed civil structure. These laws deal with property, who was in charge, and punishments for crimes. In Lev. 22 and 23, it speaks about what to do if someone is caught stealing, some livestock wander into someone else's property, if a neighbor is supervising my cattle and one of my cows dies, how to lend money, if someone tries to bribe me, if I get an infectious disease, if I'm in a dispute over land, etc. These laws do not apply to modern day Christians as they were made for those people at that particular time. God did not expect non-Israelites or future Christians to follow these government laws.

The Moral Laws have to do with doing the right thing. Examples of the Moral Laws would be the Ten Commandments or as Jesus summed it up in Mark 12, love the Lord with all you've got and love your neighbor as yourself. These laws are timeless and apply to Christians today. Christians cannot be saved by obeying these laws as we all will ultimately break them in thought, word, or deed, but we are saved through faith in Jesus who was able to obey the moral law, but still died for our wrongdoings. We still try to love God with all we've got and love others as ourselves.

Matthew 5:17-20 is when Jesus explains that he came to fulfill the ceremonial law and live the moral law for us.

So, homosexual behavior would fall somewhere under the timeless Moral law, along with stealing, lying, cheating, not obeying authority, pre-martial sex, lustful behaviors, worshipping other gods, being mean, and all those sinful acts. http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/why-homosexuality-is-not-like-other-sins is a great article on understanding why homosexuality is such a hot subject in Christianity without being offensive.

Thank you for asking! I do enjoy explaining the confusing parts of Christianity. I hope that I was able to make the information clear and understandable.

Eh, there is a large portion of Christians that believe that the OT law applies only to the Hebrews of the old testament and that gentile Christians only have to follow what is in Romans. I can't really decide either way so I merely chose to ask forgiveness of the sins that I'm not sure I'm committing. And since the Bible also has mention of guilt determining certain things as sin, the fact that I don't have guilt for the semi-ridiculous laws of the OT, and the forgiveness of all sin, I'm set.

Part of the reason I said "sort of" is because I don't believe it's a sin to be wealthy, but what God's people do with their wealth is where we will see sinful behaviors. Does that make sense? Being rich in itself isn't inherently sinful, but how I use or don't use my wealth to help those is need can turn sinful.

Those verses aren't quotes from god; they're opinions of the people who wrote the bible - and they are NOT about consenting homosexual romantic and sexual relationships as we know them today. They're about homosexual orgies and other sexual deviant acts that do not specifically say homosexuality.

Jesus never mentioned abortion: Agree. He didn't mention it. So why are many Christians against abortion? God has said that killing others is wrong (Exodus 20:13), that God does know the unborn (Jeremiah 1:5, Isaiah 49:1),

The bible also says the soul was given at the first breath of life, which supports the idea of life beginning at birth, not conception.

Well, you may believe that those quotes aren't from God, but I believe that the Bible was written by man and inspired by God. I personally believe that it was written by God in that He told them what to write (2 Tim. 3:16).

If the verses are about homosexual orgies... then they're about homosexuality. The verses in Leviticus are pretty straight forward. You're right, the homosexuality in the time of Paul was a bit different, but nevertheless it included man with man or woman with woman. I am pretty sure that the culture was very accepting of homesexual behavior then, although it has been some time since I've learned specifically about the Roman/Greek Culture.

In what verse of the Bible does it say the soul was given at the first breath of life?

Part of the reason I said "sort of" is because I don't believe it's a sin to be wealthy, but what God's people do with their wealth is where we will see sinful behaviors. Does that make sense? Being rich in itself isn't inherently sinful, but how I use or don't use my wealth to help those is need can turn sinful.

This is one reason I hate it when people in America call America a "Christian nation" then they oppose health care for all (Jesus spent a significant amount of time giving out health care), think all taxes are evil (render unto Caesar what is Caesar's), and there is an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor.

People are aware that you can be conservative and not believe in any form of higher being, right? I know this post didn't outright say it but it's slamming republicans pretty hard. Sorry to be petty but I personally found it a lil offensive.

Matthew 6:5: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full."

Jesus was talking to a Jewish audience, so of course he was going to mention synagogues in particular. I disagree that this quote makes him an anti-semite. And praying "to be seen by others" is pretty universal, I think.

You're also reading it out of context: Jesus starts by referring to the Torah (Leviticus 19:18) about loving your neighbour as yourself. Then tells this story about this theme. The point being that having a religious title (priest) or being part of the Chosen People (Levite) is not enough to fulfill the law of the Torah about loving your neighbour. It is your actions towards other people which shows your worth in the eyes of God. Even a Samaritan (a people disliked by the Jews) is more worthy according to The Torah. I don't read that as being anti-semitic, merely an interpretation of the old laws, which his audience would have known well. If the text had wanted Jesus to make an anti-semitic statement, I don't think it would have him referencing the words of the Torah as something to aspire to.

I agree, that the words of the New Testament have been used too much to justify hatred against Jews. As all religious texts it is open to multiple interpretations and can be used as a weapon against other people

But even though its origins are murky and religious scholars can never agree on how much of it is true, that does not mean that the text itself doesn't have merit.